Aaron Shust at the Community Coffeehouse

After years of touring and the early success of songs like My Savior, My God—which became one of the most played songs ever on Christian radio—Aaron returned to his roots, both musically and geographically. In 2010 Aaron moved his family back to his hometown of Aliquippa, PA and he accepted the position of volunteer worship leader in the small church where he had grown up. Even as he recorded two new records for Centricity Music he was rediscovering the notion that he was a worship leader rather than a performer, and that the songs he wrote should be offerings for the church more than attempts to get songs played on the radio. The irony, of course, is that radio embraced his refocused direction, and songs like My Hope Is In You and God of Brilliant Lights became huge radio hits. At the same time, Aaron and his wife were reeling from long-term, life-threatening medical issues affecting one of their sons and the birth of their special needs baby. It was a season that forced them into a relationship of greater dependence on God and that shaped Aaron’s songwriting into psalm-like cries of the heart.